ALPA Congratulates FAA Administrator Huerta
Confirmation Sets Stage for Action to Ensure U.S. Airlines Continue to Set
World Standards

WASHINGTON – Capt. Lee Moak, president of the
Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA), issued the following statement
regarding yesterday’s announcement of the U.S. Senate’s confirmation of Michael
P. Huerta as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) administrator.

“The confirmation of
Michael Huerta as administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, together
with a stable source of long-term funding, puts the FAA in a powerful position
to safely build capacity and foster airline growth in this country.

“Mr. Huerta’s
formidable transportation policy experience has already enabled him to achieve
remarkable progress during his tenure as the FAA’s acting administrator. ALPA is
eager to continue this positive action at an accelerated pace to ensure the
United States maintains a world-class air transportation system.

“Our industry needs
strong leadership from our government partners to ensure that we continue to
move forward and position ourselves in a global economy. We need to take the
gold standard in regulations and safety practices in the United States to the
International Civil Aviation Organization to raise the safety bar for the
world’s aviation community and ensure that U.S. airlines are not disadvantaged
internationally.

“While ALPA was
gratified by the FAA’s release of new science-based flight- and duty-time limits
and minimum rest requirements for airline pilots, we will continue to work with
Administrator Huerta and his team to advocate in the strongest possible terms
for applying the new rules to all airline pilots, regardless of whether they
carry cargo or passengers.

“We are also dedicated
to advancing NextGen, which will improve safety and increase efficiencies while
decreasing costs to the airlines. In addition, ALPA is intensely focused on
maintaining safety as the first priority in efforts to integrate unmanned
aircraft systems into the national airspace system and on putting in place
regulations to ensure the safe shipment by air of hazardous materials, including
lithium batteries. We look forward to continuing to work with Mr. Huerta on
these, as well as many other, ALPA aviation safety priorities.

“With superbly
qualified leadership and stable long-term funding, the FAA could not be more
strongly positioned to engage with industry and labor to enhance the U.S.
transportation system infrastructure and give U.S. airlines and their employees
the opportunity to compete and prevail in the global marketplace.”

Founded in 1931, ALPA is the world’s largest
pilot union, representing nearly 51,000 pilots at 35 airlines in the United
States and Canada. Visit the ALPA website at
www.alpa.org.